“I thought we played well. I thought we competed well,” said Stars coach Lindy Ruff. “We were a little sloppy in the first period, didn’t play well in our D zone, but after that I thought we played a great compete game. I thought we did a lot of good things. … I thought our young D was the key. I thought they had a strong night for us.”

Dan Ellis got the start in goal and played the entire 60 minutes, stopping 28 of 29 shots.

“I thought he was excellent,” said Ruff. “He was good with the puck. He made some key saves when the game was close, and those saves are the ones that usually turn the game. Nothing easy got by him, which is the key.”

The Stars took a 1-0 lead at 4:25 of the first period. Trevor Daley put a shot on net from the right point and Roussel redirected it into the net.

Roussel struck again 45 seconds into the second period to give the Stars a 2-0 lead, scoring from close range off a set up by Chris Mueller.

The Stars made it a 3-0 game, cashing in on a power play chance early in the third period. After Roussel blasted the puck on net from the right side, it got behind Florida goalie Michael Houser and Sceviour tapped it into the net to give the Stars a 3-0 lead at the 2:37 mark.

The Panthers answered a little more than a minute later when Tom Gilbert scored a power play goal, beating Ellis with a shot from the left point at the 3:43 mark to make it a 3-1 game.

Mueller made it a 4-1 game at the 14:10 mark of the third, scoring from the slot after Travis Morin forced turnover in the Florida zone.

*Stars forward Luke Gazdic got the better of Florida’s Eric Selleck in a first period fight.

*The game was delayed briefly late in the second period after Florida’s Shawn Matthias went face first into the boards after taking a shoulder from Stars defenseman Jamie Oleksiak behind the Dallas net. Matthias was down on the ice for a while before skating on his own to the bench.

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club. Mark Stepneski is an independent writer whose posts on DallasStars.com reflect his own opinions and do not represent official statements from the Dallas Stars.